Electrical card connector with improved metal shell

ABSTRACT

An electrical card connector comprises an insulative housing, a plurality of contacts mounted to the insulative housing and a cover covering the insulative housing. The insulative housing defines a receiving space and a mounting wall in a rear of the receiving space. The contact has a contacting portion extending into the receiving space and a retaining portion retained to the mounting wall. The cover has a top wall covering a top of the receiving space. The contacts include a grounding contact, the top wall has an elastic finger extending therefrom and touching the grounding contact to achieve grounding. By this arrangement, the electrical card connector has an additional grounding path, and improves the performance of the electrical card connector.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to electrical card connectors, moreparticularly to an electrical card connector with improved metal shell.

2. Description of Related Art

Many different electrical card connectors are popularly used inelectrical equipments for storing and transmitting data information.U.S. Pat. No. 6,840,807 discloses such an electrical card connector,which includes an insulative housing, a plurality of contacts receivedin the insulative housing, and a cover covering the insulative housingto define a receiving space together with the insulative housing forreceiving an electrical card. The cover has a top wall and two sidewalls bent from the top wall, and each side wall has two metal ears forbeing soldered to a printed circuit board which is used to mount theelectrical card connector to retain the electrical card connector. Andusually, the metal ears are also used as grounding paths, however, thegrounding trace on the printed circuit board for connecting with themetal ears may complex a design of the printed circuit board.

Hence, an improved electrical card connector is desired to overcome theabove problems.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one aspect of the present invention, an electrical cardconnector comprises: an insulative housing, a plurality of conductivecontacts received in the insulative housing, and a metal shell coveringthe insulative housing. The insulative housing defines a receiving spacefor receiving an electrical card and is formed with a mounting wall on arear of the receiving space. Each of the conductive contacts is formedwith a contacting portion extending into the receiving space and aretaining portion retained to the mounting wall. The conductive contactshave a grounding contact. The metal shell is formed with a top wallcovering a top of the receiving space, an elastic finger is integrallyand downwardly extending from the top wall to electrically contact thegrounding contact.

The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technicaladvantages of the present invention in order that the detaileddescription of the invention that follows may be better understood.Additional features and advantages of the invention will be describedhereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present invention, and theadvantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptionstaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an assembled, perspective view of an electrical card connectoraccording to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an another perspective view of the electrical card connector,wherein a metal shell is detached;

FIG. 3 is an exploded, perspective view of the electrical card connectorshown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3, while taken from a different aspect;

FIG. 5 is a section view taken from line A-A of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth toprovide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, itwill be obvious to those skilled in the art that the present inventionmay be practiced without such specific details. In other instances,well-known circuits have been shown in block diagram form in order notto obscure the present invention in unnecessary detail. For the mostpart, details concerning timing considerations and the like have beenomitted inasmuch as such details are not necessary to obtain a completeunderstanding of the present invention and are within the skills ofpersons of ordinary skill in the relevant art.

Reference will be made to the drawing figures to describe the presentinvention in detail, wherein depicted elements are not necessarily shownto scale and wherein like or similar elements are designated by same orsimilar reference numeral through the several views and same or similarterminology.

Referring to FIGS. 1-3, the electrical card connector 100 includes aninsulative housing 1, a plurality of conductive contacts 2 received inthe insulative housing 1, a detect element 3 assembled to the insulativehousing 1, an ejector 4 and a metal shell 5 covering the insulativehousing 1.

Referring to FIGS. 2-3, the insulative housing 1 defines a receivingspace 15 for receiving the electrical card (not shown) and has amounting wall 10 in a rear of the receiving space 15, two sidewalls 11extending from two opposite ends of the mounting wall 10, and a bottomwall 12 connecting the two sidewalls 11. The receiving space 15 issurrounded by the mounting wall 10, the sidewalls 11 and the bottom wall12.

The bottom wall 12 has two guiding slots 120 passing through the bottomwall 12 along a top to bottom direction and being used for guiding theejector 4 to slider along a front to rear direction. The mounting wall10 defines a plurality of retaining slots 101 which are arranged side byside and extend along the front to rear direction to retain theconductive contacts 2. A part of retaining slots 101 partially extendingupwardly and through a front edge of the mounting wall 10 to define aplurality of gaps 102. The mounting wall 10 further has a position post103 extending forwardly therefrom near the guiding slot 120. Thesidewall 11 is formed with a plurality of protrusions 111 for engagingwith the metal shell 5.

The conductive contact 2 has a retaining portion 211 retained in theretaining slot 101, a contacting portion 212 extending forwardly fromthe retaining portion 11 and extending into the receiving space 15 and asoldering portion 213 extending backwardly from the retaining portion211 and out of the insulative housing 1. All contacting points of thecontacting portion 212 of the conductive contacts 2 are located in asame surface. The conductive contacts 2 include 9 pins, from the left toright, the fourth pin is a first grounding pin 21 and the seventh pin isa second grounding pin 22. Both the retaining portions 211 of the firstand the second grounding pins 21, 22 are exposed outside the insulativehousing 1 by the gaps 102.

The detect element 3 is assembled to one of the sidewalls 11 on theright, the detect element 3 include a first detect pin 31 mounted on thefront, a second detect pin 32 mounted on the rear and a common pin 33located between the first and the second detect pins 31, 32. The firstdetect pin 31 has a first contact portion 311 contacting with theelectrical card (not shown), a first soldering portion 312 soldered to aprinted circuit board (not shown) and a first abutting portion 313contacting with the common pin 33. The second detect pin 32 has a secondabutting portion 321 contacting with the common pin 33 and a secondsoldering portion 322 soldered to the printed circuit board (not shown).The common pin 33 has a third abutting portion 331 contacting with thefirst detect pin 31 and a fourth abutting portion 332 contacting withthe second detect pin 32, a third soldering portion 333 soldered to theprinted circuit board (not shown) and a second contacting portion 334contacting with the electrical card (not shown).

The electrical card (not shown) initially inserts into the receivingspace 15, the first contacting portion 311 of the first detect pin 31 ispushed by the electrical card (not shown), and brings the first abuttingportion 313 to contact with the third abutting portion 331 of the commonpin 33 to achieve a first detection, then the inserting electrical card(not shown) pushes the second contacting portion 334 of the common pin33, and the second contacting portion 334 brings the fourth abuttingportion 332 of the common pin 33 to contact with the second abuttingportion 321 to achieve a second detection.

Referring to FIG. 3, the ejector 4 has a slider 41 movably disposed onthe bottom wall 12 of the insulative housing 1 and being able to slidewithin the guiding slot 120, a spring 42 with two ends resisting theinsulative housing 1 and the slider 41, respectively, and a guider 43for controlling the movement of the slider 41. An end of the spring 42surrounds the position post 103. The guider 43 has an U shape, with oneend retained to the sidewall 11 and the other end sliding in a heartgroove recessed on the slider 41. A locking piece 6 is assembled to theslider 41 for locking the electrical card (not shown).

Referring to FIGS. 2-4, the metal shell 5 has a top wall 51 and two sidewalls 52 vertically and downwardly extending from the top wall 51. Theside wall 52 defines a plurality of through latching holes 521 forlatching with the protrusion 111 on the sidewall 11 to retain the metalshell 5 to the insulative housing 1. The top wall 51 further defines aplurality of first openings 512, the contacting portions 212 of theconductive contacts 2 are exposed from the openings 512, when theelectrical card (not shown) inserts into the receiving space 15, thecontacting portions 212 are upwardly pushed by the electrical card (notshown) and escape from the openings 512 to prevent the contactingportions 212 from touching the top wall 51 of the metal shell 5.

The top wall 51 is provided with two elastic fingers 53 at a rear sideof the openings 512. One of the elastic fingers 53 is located above thefirst grounding contact 21 and the other is located above the secondgrounding contact 22. The elastic finger 53 has an extending portion 531tore from the top wall 51 and extending into the receiving space 15 anda resisting portion 532 extending forwardly from an end of the extendingportion 531, the resisting portion 532 extends into the gap 102 of themounting wall 10 to contact with corresponding exposed portions of theretaining portions 211 of the first grounding contact 21 and the secondgrounding contact 22, which are exposed from the gap 102. Since thefirst and the second grounding contact 21, 22 electrically connect togrounding traces (not shown) on the printed circuit board (not shown),the metal shell 5 is also grounded via the elastic fingers 53 contactwith the first and the second grounding contacts 21, 22.

In an alternative embodiment, the elastic finger may be formed on theretaining portion 211 of the grounding contact 21/22, and upwardlyextends to contact with the top wall 51 of the metal shell 5 to buildthe grounding path.

It is to be understood, however, that even though numerouscharacteristics and advantages of the present invention have been setforth in the foregoing description, together with details of thestructure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrativeonly, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape,size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention tothe full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms inwhich the appended claims are expressed.

We claim:
 1. An electrical card connector comprising: an insulativehousing defining a receiving space for receiving an electrical card andformed with a mounting wall on a rear of the receiving space; aplurality of conductive contacts received in the insulative housing,each of the conductive contacts formed with a contacting portionextending into the receiving space and a retaining portion retained tothe mounting wall, the conductive contacts having a grounding contact;and a metal shell covering the insulative housing, the metal shellformed with a top wall covering a top of the receiving space, an elasticfinger integrally and downwardly extending from the top wall toelectrically contact the grounding contact.
 2. The electrical cardconnector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the mounting wall has aplurality of retaining slots passing through the mounting wall along afront to rear direction, the retaining portions of the conductivecontacts are retained to the retaining slots, and the mounting wallfurther has a gap extending upwardly from a top of one of the retainingslot and through the mounting wall, the retaining portion of thegrounding contact is exposed in the gap.
 3. The electrical cardconnector as claimed in claim 2, wherein the elastic finger downwardlyextends into the gap and electrically contacts with the retainingportion of the grounding contact.
 4. The electrical card connector asclaimed in claim 3, wherein the conductive contacts further compriseanother grounding contact, and the top wall further has another elasticfinger electrically contacting with the another grounding contact. 5.The electrical card connector as claimed in claim 4, wherein the topwall of the metal shell further has a plurality of openings to provideescaping channels for the contacting portions of the conductivecontacts.
 6. The electrical card connector as claimed in claim 4,wherein the elastic finger is tore from the top wall and has anextending portion extending into the receiving space and a resistingportion further extending from the extending portion, the resistingportion contacts with the retaining portion of the grounding contact. 7.An electrical card connector comprising: an insulative housing defininga receiving space for receiving an electrical card and formed with amounting wall on a rear of the receiving space, the mounting walldefining a plurality of retaining slots passing through the mountingwall along a front to rear direction; a plurality of conductivecontacts, each conductive contact formed with a contacting portionextending into the receiving space and a retaining portion retained tothe retaining slot, the conductive contacts having a grounding contact;and a metal shell formed with a top wall covering a top of the receivingspace, the top wall and the retaining portion of the grounding contactelectrically connecting with each other by an elastic finger.
 8. Theelectrical card connector as claimed in claim 7, wherein the elasticfinger is tore from the top wall.
 9. The electrical card connector asclaimed in claim 8, wherein the elastic finger has an extending portionextending into the receiving space and a resisting portion furtherextending from the extending portion, the resisting portion contactswith the retaining portion of the grounding contact.
 10. The electricalcard connector as claimed in claim 8, wherein the retaining portion ofthe grounding contact is exposed in a gap which extends upwardly from atop of corresponding retaining slot and through the mounting wall. 11.The electrical card connector as claimed in claim 10, wherein the topwall of the metal shell further has a plurality of openings to provideescaping channels for the contacting portions of the conductivecontacts.
 12. The electrical card connector as claimed in claim 7,wherein the elastic finger is integrally formed on the retaining portionof the grounding contact.
 13. An electrical card connector comprising:an insulative housing; a metallic shell downwardly attached upon a topface of the housing in a vertical direction and cooperating with thehousing to commonly define a card receiving space therebetween; aplurality of contacts disposed in the housing with resilient deflectablecontacting sections extending forwardly and downwardly into the cardreceiving space, said contacts including grounding contacts and signalcontacts; and a plurality of spring tangs unitarily extending from inneredges of the shell of corresponding openings of the shell, respectively,via a stamping process; wherein each of said spring tang includes at afree end a resisting portion downwardly abutting against a stationaryhorizontal section of the corresponding grounding contact behind theresilient deflectable contacting section.
 14. The electrical cardconnector as claimed in claim 13, wherein the housing defines aplurality of retaining slots to secure the corresponding contacts,respectively, and each of the retaining slots securing the groundingcontacts is further equipped with an upward gap so as to allow theresisting portion to be downwardly inserted thereinto to contact thecorresponding grounding contact,
 15. The electrical card connector asclaimed in claim 14, wherein the gap is located around a forward edge ofthe housing, and the corresponding spring tang extends rearwardly toallow the resisting portion to be protectively disposed in the gap.